Saturday, March 7, 2009

Myspace or Facebook? How about neither

Once upon a time I swore that I would not use a social networking website. In doing so, many of my close friends asked me why. Well, therein lies the answer. If I am already in a position to keep in touch with my close friends, why on Earth would I need to join a social networking site? I view myspace and facebook as ways for people that I DON'T like to find me and try to see what I have been doing with my life. Sadly, I caved in and created a myspace page in August. Much to my chagrin, it was exactly what I thought it was going to be. About 85% of the people on my friends list are not really "friends" of mine to begin with. Many are just aquaintances or classmates of mine from my days at Redneck Central High School in southeastern Kentucky. The other 15% are family, co-workers, or close friends of mine that I can pick up the phone and call at a time of my choosing and have a real, meaningful conversation with. Instead, even they opt to send silly little messages to me on myspace. Some people are absolutely obsessed with those sites. There is one guy who is ALWAYS online on myspace. I'm talking 14-15 hours a day. I have absolutely no idea what he is doing on there, but my goodness. Read a book. Get a job. Join a gym. Learn how to sew. Do something constructive! My Facebook experience was even less impressive. I signed up for an account today, and deactivated it less than 12 hours later.

I will give the devils their due. The guys who created those sites are rich beyond my wildest imagination. They took a basic idea and it caught on then exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. To them, my hats off. However, social networking is not for everybody. Then again, neither am I.